It’s hard not to get excited watching Dillon Gee pitch; he’s like a combination artist/illusionist on the mound. To be a successful pitcher you have to be able to deceive the batter and Gee’s pitch of deception last night was a cut fastball. Gee felt his slider would not be effective after throwing his pre-game bullpen so he decided the out pitch of the night would be a combination of his two seamer with a bit of cutter movement and his changeup, add that to his fastball and the Braves hitters were off balance all night. No matter what happens for here on this season, Dillion Gee’s starts are a must watch for Mets fans.

Terry Collins is using his last option with Jason Bay by dropping him to the 6th spot in the lineup. If he can’t get it together there then it’s time to bring up Lucas Duda or F-Mart to platoon in LF with Bay or as Mike Silva suggests, ask him to go to Buffalo to work out whatever problems it is he’s having. If it comes down to where he’s spooked by Citi Field then Bay has a big decision to make, right now with his contract he is untradeable and he’ll to make to some big time concessions to go to a team where hitting the ball over the left field seats is a bit easier.

More debate over the subject of retiring Gary Carter’s #8. What gets lost in this debate is the fact that the Skill Sets are so clueless when it comes to the history of the team, that’s why when you read the recent magazine articles where Freddy Skill Sets claims his love for the Mets is pure 100 % BULLSHIT. He’s a Brooklyn Dodger fan who never got over the team leaving Brooklyn. He and the rest of this dysfunctional ownership have no appreciation for those you have worn the Mets uniform or for you and me who love the team, they have to be shamed into doing anything positive when it comes to this team. As Mets fans we want something to celebrate, the negativity has drained most of the life out of the fan base.

On this day in 1973, the Mets made Lee Mazzilli out of Lincoln High School in Brooklyn their first pick in the MLB Entry Draft. If you’ve read this site for a while you know I’m not a big Mazzilli fan. I was a sophomore at FDR High in Bensonhurst when Mazzilli was drafted and though I had never met him I heard a lot about him, not any of it complementary from players on the varsity baseball team. When Mazzilli came up with the Mets he’d frequent a few of the Bensonhurst/Bay Ridge spots my friends and I hung out in and he acted like an ass anytime I saw him. When he was traded to the Rangers in ’82 it was the best thing for him, he needed to be taken down a notch or two.

Have you come off the ledge? Good. If Mets fans are going to react to every game this season like they have over last night’s season opener, there will be a shortage of nitroglycerin pills in NYC hospitals by June.

Sure it sucks to lose on opening day (night?) and Big Pelf was far from good but some Mets fans are acting like the season just ended instead of just starting. Maybe it’s due to the Mets proficiency of winning on opening day or maybe it was the sheer dominance of Josh Johnson or maybe it’s that we are dying to root for a team that looks, acts and plays like a confident Major League Baseball team, but if you’re bringing a football mentality to this baseball season, you’ll get burned out by Memorial Day weekend. There’s going to be rough patches, and that’s when we’ll see what the team and the manager is made of. If I could give Terry Collins a bit of advice, don’t fall into that bad habit of saying the team how proud you are that the team played hard and never gave up, that’s not to be commended it’s to be expected. Collins did make a move that worked out nicely as Willie Harris 2 for 4 breaking up Josh Johnson no-no.

Big Pelf had a rough night; if that two seam doesn’t sink then he’s sunk. Give Buck some credit on that at bat, he worked the count to his favor and proceeded to foul of pitch after pitch, not only seeing Pelf’s full arsenal of pitches but also frustrating Pelf to make that perfect out pitch, a sinking two seamer that Buck will either over swing at at strikeout or hit on the ground for tidy double play. Pelfrey came with the two seam but instead of breaking down and in it was up and away enough for Buck, who has power, to extend his arms and place the ball on row over the right field fence. As bad as that pitch was, it was the strength of John Buck that put it out of the park.

Pelfrey then fell into that lack of focus that he needs to get over if he is to be a top shelf pitcher as he let Omar Infante walk into second base with a stolen base in the 5th . That was followed by a Hanley Ramirez single which ended Pelf’s night.

Through all the anger and despair of another lost season in Flushing sometimes you have to step back and look at some positives, though there aren’t many but one is the resurgence of Big Pelf. Pelfrey’s season is a microcosm of the Mets this year, more ups and downs than an elevator shaft at the Empire State Building.

Pelf had a great start to the season and then was just average in May and June and down right awful in July and now has bounced back to this April quality this month of August. So how did Big Pelf turn his season around?

For one thing Pelfrey is back to throwing strikes and using his two seamer with authority. It seems any problems Pelf has it always comes down to confidence in his pitches and this year it’s taken him a while to master that two seam fastball which is a new pitch added to his arsenal. It seems that pitch eluded him for the month of July and one thing we know for sure about Big Pelf is for a big strapping guy, he can be quite fragile emotionally. Maybe the July meltdown and the fact that he now realizes his problems are in his head and not his arm will be the turning point to his career. There is too much talent here for Pelfrey not to become a stud pitcher.

I watched just bits and pieces of last night’s game as I was more involved in the Red Sox-Rays game but I did see that Jerry Manuel brought Bobby Parnell in to pitch the 9th inning last night but then let Takahashi finish the game. Parnell K’d Hunter Pence then gave up a single to Carlos Lee who took second on Pagan’s double then after Chris Johnson singled Manuel decides it’s time to become Tony LaRussa and over manage by bringing in Takahashi. Why not see if Parnell can get out the jam ? I can see the point of not wanting to lose this game and get Pelfrey a another win but I’d would think with Parnell having been pitching well in this spot of late and with Parnell looking to fill the void at closer why not let him finish? Even if he gives up a hit and the lead and blows the save, at least you can see how he responds to that as closers have to have short memories in order to succeed. You could lose this battle but win the war if Parnell shows the guts to forget it and comeback strong in his next outing. He could also strikeout the next two batters and have his confidence sore from that experience as well. Maybe that was too much for Jerry Manuel to think about .

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